Abstract:The extraction of polyphenols from corn silk processed with three different methods and the antimicrobial activities of the extracted polyphenols were studied. The effects of three common processing methods（low temperature， wet heating， and high temperature） on the yields and antimicrobial activities of polyphenols from corn silk were evaluated. The antimicrobial activities of polyphenols extracted from corn silk were evaluated with six microbial species： Escherichia coli， Staphylococcus aureus， Bacillus subtilis， Aspergillus flavus， Penicillium， and Rhizopus nigricans. The results showed that the extracted polyphenols had good inhibitory effects on the six microbial species. The polyphenols extracted from corn silk processed at low temperature showed the strongest inhibitory effect on S. aureus， with the inhibition zone diameter reaching （8.95±0.16） mm.The polyphenols extracted from corn silk processed at high temperature demonstrated the poorest inhibitory effect on R. nigricans， with the inhibition zone diameter of only （6.28±0.51） mm. The polyphenols extracted from corn silk processed at low temperature had strong antimicrobial activities， while those at high temperature had weak antimicrobial activities. In summary， corn silk polyphenols with inhibitory effects on bacteria and molds serve as a potential natural antimicrobial antioxidant.